The Message in Her Brain
by cammylopez
Summary: My idea of how things should go from now on, after the episode 6.09 The Doctor in the Photo. Brennan has opened up, but ha been rejected. But what's the reasoning behind this: has Booth fallen out of love with her? or is he just being honorable? Find out!
1. What's ours

**DISCLAIMER:** I DO NOT OWN BONES (THOUGH I WISH I DID) ALL I OWN IS MY IMAGINATION. (AND THE TYPOS)

**WARNING:** THIS FAN FICTION TAKES RIGHT AFTER EPISODE 6X09: THE DOCTOR IN THE PHOTO, IF YOU HAVE YET TO SEE THE EPISODE I RECOMMEND WAITING UNTIL YOU DO!

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"What's Ours..."

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The ride to Brennan's apartment was silent. Too much had been said, or maybe too little. Still, she kept her lips sealed for the lack of words to explain what she was feeling.

_Feeling... what was I feeling? Sadness? Emptiness? Or was it relief ?_ Thought Temperance as she closed her eyes, not being able to find other way to escape. She was too tired to sort through all the possibilities.

"Bones, will you be Ok?" He said as he pulled over, outside of her building. The rain still hitting the windshield, like a winter day. He once again asked her if she would like to have anyone come over and be with her, after her brush with death. And even though he didn't mention it, their confessions.

"I...I need to be alone now" She was lying. And he knew she was. But the situation wasn't in her favor. Temperance Brennan had missed her chance, and she felt she had no right to ask for anything other than for him to forgive her attitude over the passed days.. and over the passed months. Brennan opened the door fast enough solely to thank him for the ride and disappear into the pouring rain. He was gone within, what she thought, was a minute.

Time passed as Brennan reached for the door knob of her apartment. Cognizant of the forming pool of water below her shoes, she reached for the spare key under the mat knowing that her shaking hands wouldn't be able to reach for the keys from her purse in an adequate time.

After a few attempts, she finally opened the door, and was absorbed by the darkness of the living room. Lights were not necessary after so many years living in the same building, so she slowly closed the front door and walked to her bedroom only guided by the light coming through the windows, as the night accompanied her with soft lightnings.

For the first time in a long time, Temperance was scared. Has she just put in danger her relationship with Booth, or the lack thereof? If his confession over a year ago had jeopardized their partnership, what would this do to them now, that they both "knew"? She was too tired to keep thinking of it.

That night she went to bed and tried to slept like she hadn't since the beginning of the case. Still, the terrifying and distressing dreams concerning Lauren Ames' death, plagued her sleep and kept her restlessly moving in the side of the bed she claimed.

_Brennan was running behind Lauren, on a dark rainy night. The medical doctor knew the anthropologist was behind her, for she looked back from time to time to see how close she was. _

"_Temperance, get away from me" she said, hoping Brennan would stop chasing her. But she wouldn't stop, she needed answers. _

"_Why? Why would you reject him and make yourself miserable? There was nothing to lose" Brennan cried at loud. _

_Lauren stopped and just like she did Brennan weakened her pace as she turned to face her. Brennan approached her, looking right into her sad eyes. They stood on the rain for a moment, feeling there was nothing else to say Brennan understood. "You never really answered, did you?" She said with a painful smirk. "It was me all the way, I was the one who had regrets". Suddenly, a car, that neither of them had heard since it was muffled by the rain, ran Lauren over sending her body and skull to crush right against the pavement as she gave Temperance a last look with teary blue eyes._

The next morning she woke up at 5 AM. As she opened her eyes, a handful of tears gathered in her eyelids and she looked at the ceiling.

Quietly, Brennan sorted through her thoughts on the night before and her dream, noticing a different feeling: Ease.

Still on her back and under the khaki sheets of her bed, the young anthropologist tried to figure out the purpose of her dream and it's effects.

_It should not have an effect_, she thought. It didn't, for in the head of Temperance Brennan dreaming was only an involuntary mental process caused only by the re-elaboration of her memories. These memories could be directly related to the events that started three day ago, such as her conversation with the pilot, hearing Lauren's voice in the recording, or even Booth rescuing her from being run over.

_Booth. _

What had he been doing there? Had he been following me during the whole case? Was it just... fate?

_No, ludicrous. _

Brennan got up quickly at the sound of her alarm clock that interrupted her thoughts. It was time to start a new day. Before 6 AM, she was already on her way to the lab, driving her blue Prius in the streets of Washington. As she approached the parking lot of the Jeffersonian Institution, her cellphone rang. _Who would be calling this early?_ She thought. "Brennan" She answered pulling on her car's regular spot. It was Angela.

"Did Booth tell you to call me?" She said already distressed by what he might have shared with her best friend.

"Yes, in fact he did, Bren." she said impetuously.

"You sound angry, Angela" answered Brennan, conscious of the reason. "I... I'm ok, I'm actually in the Jeffersonian already." she said, sounding much more confident.

"It's just I'm worried about you, you've been acting strangely and I thought the case..."

Brennan interrupted her friend. "The case, as Booth might have told you, has already come to conclusion. No need to worry, Angela." She said, taking a deep breath, "Everything back to normality today" not really know what she meant by 'normal'.

"Oh" Angela's voice sounded undisturbed now, "Booth never told me that, I thought he was just concerned after..."

"Is that all he told you?" Angela validated Brennan's unspoken premise. He had just mentioned seeing her tired, and their fight in the office early the day before. _"What goes on between us, that should just be ours" _reverberated in Temperance's head, as a reminder that what she and Seeley Booth had before their separation 8 months ago, was still there, even when she couldn't see it anymore blocked by the shiny bauble impeding them from being together, known as Hannah Burley. Now, they both knew.

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_**Hope you enjoyed it! Reviews are always appreciated!**_


	2. Stressful Enough?

**DISCLAIMER:** I DO NOT OWN BONES (THOUGH I WISH I DID) ALL I OWN IS MY IMAGINATION. (AND THE TYPOS)

**WARNING:** THIS FAN FICTION TAKES RIGHT AFTER EPISODE 6X09: THE DOCTOR IN THE PHOTO, IF YOU HAVE YET TO SEE THE EPISODE I RECOMMEND WAITING UNTIL YOU DO!

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**Stressful Enough?**

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The day had started like no other since the team had come back from their breaks. The lab seemed empty and there wasn't much anyone could do to change it. The wing of the Jeffersonian the forensics lab took care off had been displaying the portraits of the Amelia Rose for weeks now, and there weren't any new projects for exhibition. Equally, with no new bodies to examine and with the Limbo being worked by the interns, the team was free of any activity. The FBI, surprisingly, had not called either which meant the team would be spending the day doing the magnificent activity of handling paper work.

A certain Temperance Brennan sat beside her desk. She wore a sky-blue shirt, her characteristic dolphin ring and dark blue jeans. And something else in her face. A smile.

Yes, Temperance Brennan's life had gone up-side down for three days, yet, she had managed to adapt once again, into what she understood as normality. She sat quietly while going through some papers, when she heard someone coming from the door and stepping right in front of her deck.

"Ok, Brennan, I know you love your work, we all do around here; but the whole thing about it is for it to be stressful" Temperance's eyes met Angela's and as she was about to say something the artist went on "Since we have nothing to do, and this is, just not stressful enough for anyone, maybe a little procrastination" She said pointing the papers on her desk with a finger. "would work good for you, too"

"Angela, that doesn't make any sense" She said with a lively smile, that left her best friend wondering what had happened since the last time they saw each other.

"Is everything ok, Brennan?" She said lifting her weight to one leg and placing a hand in the desk. "You seem way too bubbly today" Said Angela with a curious smirk.

"No, that's not true, I'm not bubbly" She said, going back to her paper work, but still with a suspiciously happy smile "I don't even know what that means, Angela".  
But her friend was not convinced and as she was about to go on the other side of the desk to take her away from work, the phone rang.

"Brennan" answered the blue-eyed Doctor. She listened, and glanced at her friend. "I'm on my way" and she was. As soon as she put the receiver down she was out of her office and her friend following closely.

"Ok, here we go again" Angela said at her steps.

"Didn't you say you needed a little stress?" She said turning as she walked out of the lab.

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Temperance Brennan's car stopped in front of a house fenced a by dry-stone wall. She stepped out of her vehicle, wondering where had Booth parked his SUV, since all she could see were the Crime Scene trucks and some cops walking around talking in their hand-held transreceivers. While she pulled her bag out of the trunk, an agent approached her with the usual "Doctor Brennan" and nodded politely. "It might be gooey inside, so.." He wasn't done when Brennan pulled her suit from the bag.

"Who are you?" Said Brennan putting her blue whole-body suit on. "and where's agent Booth?"

"Agent Matthew Hyson with the FBI" He said ready for a handshake, that was never given. The man seemed to be in his 20s, Brennan estimated a few years older than Sweets. " He's assigned to another case" The obvious and almost imperceptible sign that Temperance was surprise made the boy nervous but he still went on talking. "He said you would be ok on your own for this one" Awkward pause. Brennan was not amused by the implication that she needed or did not need Booth in this case. She knew the reason wasn't another case, but she decided that wouldn't affect her work.

"So, what do we got?" Putting her black gloves on and letting the conversation go, as if Booth had never been mentioned. They walked to the entrance of the house while Agent Hyson gave her the details.

"According to our records this is Cho Family's House" He said looking through his notes. "Mailman got to the house, knocked twice and found no one home. Since it was early in the morning, he decided to take a look around the house and when he did, he found the decomposing body of, presumably, a male in front of the TV." Brennan seemed to find the agent's explanation somewhat ordinary.

"Then why am I here?" She said stopping. "People die in front of their TVs all the time" She was annoyed already by Booth's absence and now this, was starting to affect her morning.

"I'm sorry, I could have explained it better" He said adjusting his collar. "When the police arrived, they found not only someone in the living room, but a woman in the kitchen and what we presume is a young woman in the kitchen, too." The agent saw a sparkle of interest in the doctor's eyes now. "It is like a regular Sunday morning of an American family"He said, as he opened the door. "Only, this one smells pretty bad."

The strong scent of decomposing bodies, hit them as they stepped into the perceivably foul smelling house together. It would have been normal for Brennan to find that smell, but this time there was something different about it. It was hot. Really hot.

"What's with the heating system?" Said Brennan. She knew corpses would have decomposed quicker, thus making the postmortem intervals more difficult to establish and only that fact, gave the case a level of difficulty she enjoyed quietly.

Everything was perfectly arranged, which to the forensic anthropologist indicated they had been killed somewhere else, and that the heated temperature presented in this scenario were only a matter of accelerating the process of decomposition. Brennan had no time to waste with information that needed to be recorded by the FBI, so she went and examined the first rotting corpse from the living room. The room was decorated in an oriental fashion. Lots of lamps and colors such as green and orange, but still fresh and relaxing in style.

"What happened to his head?" asked the disgusted FBI agent at the sight of the exposed skull of the victim. Apparently, he hadn't been to many crime scenes before. "And where's his hair?"

"Objectively, I'd say he had no hair. Most likely the heating system cause the most exposed area of the body, such as the top of his head, to decompose first"

She said, watching the young agent get queasy. "And you're right, it's a male"

She said while she touched the melting face of the victim. "Cranial sutures indicate an age of about 40 to 50 years old". She ran her fingers across the man's forehead. "Bullet entry in the frontal bone"

As she pushed the body to her, so she could see the back of the victim's head, she kept giving details. "Directionality shows this it was shot obliquely from above, and leaving an exit wound on the base of the skull"She put the body back against its chair and said "This is definitely murder"

Brennan spent about an hour determining the sex and race of the victims and sharing the details with the FBI. "They seem to be all part of the same family, but I'll need to do some tests before confirming it." She said as she removed her gloves ready to get back to the lab.

As she looked around, they FBI team scoped the area taking more pictures and making sure everything had been checked, but she found something interesting. In a far corner of the living room, there was a portrait hanging of an Asian family of three children and two adults who could easily be the kid's parents. She looked especially at the older male figure of it. He was probably in his 30s.

"Those people are definitely not the murder victims." Said Brennan pointing to the portrait. "The interorbital breadth is intermediate in skulls of Asian ancestry, just like in the picture" Agent Hyson decided not to interrupt the Doctor's moment and listened as he took notes he did not understood. "The victim's eyes are closer together than those of the people in the portrait. Our victims are Caucasian, not Asian. This is not their home." And now, the case became much more interesting to one forensic anthropologist.

"Then who are these people?"

Brennan asked the agents to take everything to the Jeffersonian, where the team would be expecting the victims, and she headed to her car, to get Booth. He would need to participate of this one, whether he liked it or not.

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**_Feel free to review and thank you for reading! I'll keep going if you liked this!_**


	3. The Girl in Between

**DISCLAIMER:** I DO NOT OWN BONES (THOUGH I WISH I DID) ALL I OWN IS MY IMAGINATION. (AND THE TYPOS)

**WARNING:** THIS FAN FICTION TAKES RIGHT AFTER EPISODE 6X09: THE DOCTOR IN THE PHOTO, IF YOU HAVE YET TO SEE THE EPISODE I RECOMMEND WAITING UNTIL YOU DO!

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"The Girl in Between"

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Special agent Seeley Booth, sat next to his desk holding a cup of coffee in one hand, and the other placed on top of the computer mouse. Nervously, he scrolled over his emails, noticing that it had been weeks since he had received one from Parker or even Jared, and he felt the lack of those little signs that they missed him as much as he missed them. He was about to open a message from the Bureau when his door flied open and the figure of Temperance Brennan stood in front of him.

"Why are you not at the crime scene?" She asked trying, at the same time, to catch her breath.

She hadn't changed her whole-body suit and didn't even undo her usual crime scene messy hair bun.

Booth stood up quietly, placing his cup of coffee in the desk, and slowly reaching Brennan's eyes, he stared at her for an uncomfortable moment as he moved closer to her. _"How could she be this 'normal' after what happened the night before?" _he thought. He was expecting this even if he pretended not to.

Still standing in front of the door, she added "I don't see why we cannot work together," With a hint of pain and anger, she raised her voice. "I'm sorry if I put you on a difficult spot with Hannah and me, but I was..."

Booth almost ran to the door and stuck his neck out to the room to look around as to make sure no one had heard what she said. "Bones, will you keep your mouth shut?" He said as he closed the door. "I don't need the whole FBI knowing about anything that's not my work life." He said gently pushing her by both of her shoulders and towards one of the chairs.

"That's the reason then." She said turning to see him right in the eyes. "You're afraid that I might affect your relationship with Hannah" She said, definitely. _Not a question, just a conclusion based on the circumstances._

"What? No..." he said trying to dismiss the obvious assumption, and walking away from her. But Temperance Brennan knew better. Even when she was not a person who could easily recognize when suspects lied, she knew that when it came to this Special Agent, the redness in his cheeks and the few word he was using were enough for her. Brennan looked away, and leaned against the desk. An awkward pause filled the room, until she broke the silence.

"That agent you sent me, in addition to having no ability whatsoever to tolerate murder, told me you were working on another case, but clearly he was just guessing, you're not even working." She said pointing with a hand to his desk and computer. "And what are you doing in your computer? You hate computers" She said in a frustrated tone, dropping her arms to her sides, waiting for an answer.

"Agent Hyson... you got the wrong impression, he's really good at his job. I just needed to get some things done with this... other case" He said lifting a random folder from his desk and smiling as if she had no idea that he was lying to her, again.

"So, this is what it's going to be like?" Her eyes started tearing up as she stood straight. "We cannot work together anymore?" She said tilting her head to a side.

"It's not that... just..." He was annoyed, Booth didn't need to have that conversation that early in the morning, neither in the FBI building. But that sad girly look in her face, softened his heart. "not now, Temperance."

At those last words Temperance Brennan, stormed out of Booth' office. "I'll be at the lab, working" She said as she reached for the elevator, and hopped on it. She could hear him walking fast in her back, but didn't want to stop. It was her time to ignore him. Ignore her own feelings.

"Bones, wait up" He said, placing a hand in the door as it closed. The elevator was empty, except for his partner. He hopped in next to her, and the doors closed in an now commonly quiet moment. "So, dead guy in the living room?" He said with a rarely shy smile, to which Brennan corresponded politely.

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**_Sorry guys, it took me so long to update! I'm already working on the next chapter! :D Review are always welcomed!_**


	4. Secrets are Secrets

**DISCLAIMER:** I DO NOT OWN BONES (THOUGH I WISH I DID) ALL I OWN IS MY IMAGINATION. (AND THE TYPOS)

**WARNING:** THIS FAN FICTION TAKES RIGHT AFTER EPISODE 6X09: THE DOCTOR IN THE PHOTO, IF YOU HAVE YET TO SEE THE EPISODE I RECOMMEND WAITING UNTIL YOU DO!

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**"Secrets are Secrets"**

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The anthropologist's card was swiped and the sound of her five inch heels clicking on the floor were silenced after a second swipe of a card at the base of the forensic's platform. After having convinced Booth that she needed him for the case, she had made a stop to change back to her regular clothes and headed back to the lab quickly after.

"So, what do we got?" She said, now much more relaxed, adjusting her lab coat a little bit and smiling relieved she wouldn't have to be working with an incompetent agent that was not her partner.

"Vincent here has something to show you, Doctor Brennan." Said Cam as she looked behind the anthropologist's shoulder, curious as to Booth's presence in the building. It had been a while since he last was there and he looked around the place almost as he didn't recognize it anymore. "And, I see you do, too." The Pathologist said smiling and crossing her arms in front of her chest as she usually did when she wanted to say more than she was actually saying.

" I have nothing to show, Dr. Saroyan, even when your words and tone suggest otherwise." said Brennan clueless, and putting the last button of her lab-coat in place "Mr. Nigel Murray?" An almost imperceptible brow lift was given to the young student.

"Yes, Doctor Brennan" said the British accented Not-yet-doctor. "Female number one found in the house's incredibly bloody kitchen. Reminds me of..." He said it in a tone that assimilated more a recording than an actual voice. Noticing brows lifting around him he continued. "Blunt force trauma to the skull indicates that this was definitely foul play." He turned his gaze to the remains on the stainless steel table, and adjusting his goggles, that were joined to magnifying glasses, continued. "Fragments of plastic and fabric were found in one of the cracks in the victim's skull" He raised

"What does the back of the skull show?" Brennan said in her most teacher-like tone. Vincent looked at the doctor for a second thinking of words he could not verbalize, knowing Brennan would not appreciate the compliments he had thought of her favorite forensic anthropologists, "Right" he said and snapped back to look at the skull.

"Several hemorrhagic staining suggests the victim was alive and struck more than once by a sharp object" He said very proud of his answer. "This was a very violent murder and I bet those two were also" He said indicating the other bodies in farther in the platform.

"Very well, Mr. Nigel Murray. You've showed great improvement since you last were here." She said, with a smile that the young boy had been asking for about 2 years. "Except for that unnecessary comment, I don't need your opinion on the case. Just the facts." Vincent winced at her boss' observation and made an apologetic smirk, to which Brennan answered with a clueless smile.

Brennan indicated that the fibers should be given to Hodgins for further examination, and without any other comment she headed to her office. Cam looked at Booth who was standing at the platform very still. "Go ahead, you're not gonna stay here all morning are you?" Booth shrugged, not sure of what his attitude should be around Brennan, after all it had been a while since he had been at the lab, and the situation with her had changed so much over night, that he had no idea where to stand.

Realizing Brennan was already entering her office, he ran across the lab, and quickly was behind her. Brennan sat smiley behind her desk, and speedily sorted through some folders. Quietly, she picked one, and started writing on the first paper sheet she found inside of it.

Booth silently, stood at the frame of Brennan's door, almost as he needed an invitation.

"You're not a vampire, are you?" Said Brennan, still looking at the paper on her desk. "It is commonly believed in the mythic story of vampires that they cannot enter one's domain without an invite. So, since I know you're not a vampire, because there's no such thing as a blood-sucking demons..."

"Ok, ok, Bones I get it" He said a little annoyed by her usual but unnecessary explanation. He walked into the office and saw Brennan look at him. "I'm in. and now, I'm gonna sit right here and take a nap, while something shows up, ok?" He looked at Brennan and saw something in her he hadn't seen that morning. Something he had seen the night before. Sadness, real sadness in her eyes.

"Those are suitable terms" She said nodding in his direction, her expression pensive. "Look, Booth... I know, things might get complicated from now on...and you're with Hannah... so I understand you might want to tell her about what happened last night. About how you saved me from being run over by a car." She said now looking at the floor.

_Would it be too much to say ' and how I told you that I was sorry and regretted saying 'no'?' _she thought.

"I need to ask you to keep that to yourself. Everything." Now her tone was adamant. She needed for him to promise her he wouldn't say anything." Booth turned serious as well. _Is she seriously asking me to hide something from his girlfriend?_

He considered it for a second. Or two. "Sure, Bones" He said with a shy smile and sat down. Although neither of them would admit it, it was difficult to ignore each other's overt pain. Brennan's eyes still showed the tiredness and how swollen her eyes had ended up after that rainy encounter, but he couldn't keep staring at them anymore. So he moved on, like he was used to. "So, not identifications yet?"

Brennan, like she was used to, wore off the conversation and continued, "Well, until Angela runs the face reconstruction there isn't much for us to work with. The house does not belong to them, and the family to which the house belongs to is on a cruise to Bahamas, so until the FBI doesn't reach them and Angela can't get a match of her sketches there isn't much for us to work with either."

"You might not need to wait long" Said Angela as she entered with her projecting belly and the Angelator's remote. She stopped next to Brennan's desk and looked around. Two long faces in that room, and none of those was hers. "Did anyone die?" She said kidding and looking from one to the other, and searching for a hint to realize what they were talking about. Even when, deeply, she knew what it was about. What it was always about.

"Of course, we have three bodies right there" Said Brennan, rapidly.

"I know, Bren..." She said giving up. It was obvious she would avoid the actual meaning of her question.

"So,..." Said Booth getting up, and brushing his hands against his jeans. "Got Ids?" Angela smiled and signaled them to follow her to her office.

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Liked? Hated? Need more? Let me know! ^^


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